Universidade Federal da Paraíba

CCHLA/ DLEM
Aluna: Byanka Souza Silva

Reading Journal:

Everyday Use

The short story by Alice Walker tells us a very strong point about culture and to recognize our
origins. In this story we met Dee, her mother and her sister Maggie. In the very beginning it
is clear the differences between the three women, more specifically between the mom and
sister in relation to Dee (Wangero). Dee is a very empowered woman, as her mom says, she
looks in the eyes of anyone, she has confidence, different from the mom and sister, who walk
over there with heads down and with no confidence. Much of this shame of the mother and
sister is related to their color and origins, they kind of feel not worthy of appreciation,
different from Dee, who knows her value and shows all the time that appreciates the black
culture and how rich it is. Dee is a very polite person, she studied and has a nice scholar
formation and is outgoing, always wanting more. Meggie on the other hand, just lives in her
simple house with her mother, having a calm life and not many expectations for the future.
She's going to marry soon and feels happy for her life. When Dee arrives at her mom’s
house, she kind of knows the cultural value that the house has, she takes a lot of photos, and
just after this, she hugs her family. Until there I saw nothing wrong, but after that she started
acting like she was kind of superior. During the dinner started with a neutral conversation, but
the following acts were disastrous. Dee takes the butter dish and wants the object to her. It
could be a normal thing if she just didn’t treat this as an untouchable artifact, the words that
she expresses are more like “you don’t know appreciate this, I do”. The feeling that I could
have reading this is that Dee just wanted to have it to say that have it, the meaning it could
have to her is just an extra. The part that most made me feel angry was the quilts, when Dee
says
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be backward enough to
put them to everyday use.”
Then, I realized that to Dee the appreciation of her culture was more in the objects, and to
her, using those quilts (that were so princeless) in the everyday would be absurd, because to
her the appreciation is about exhibit and not touching to conserve them. To mama and
Maggie, the culture was in everyday use, was their lives in any part, was in the usual
language, all around their house, in use the quilts handmade, even in traditional customs and
teachings by the grandma, etc. When Maggie says that Dee could just take the quilts because
she know how to do more of them, was like a slap on the face, because she shows that she is
as smart as Dee, and appreciates her culture, but in a intimate way, she was teached by
grandma and this is what she carries to herself, different from Dee, who see value just on
have the itens. Maggie has experienced the culture, the customs, she knows that just the fact
that Dee takes the quilts would not erase the memories that she has, because she doesn’t
reduce to this. Dee was arrogant and hypocritical, she didn’t visit her family for six years and
suddenly arrives wanting to show the importance of the origins? No way. I totally agree with
the mama attitude, and hope that Dee one day understands how ignorant she has been. Maybe
her intentions were really good, but the immature way she acted just made me feel sad.
The conclusion to this short story is that power and acknowledgment is not reduced to school
and academic studies, but in daily life, everywhere, in everyday use. Every type of
intelligence should be valued.